Imperio (on hold)

13: The Rescue

Melody recognised both of the Death Eaters. Macnair was to the left with his twisted, arched face set in a vicious and frighteningly blood-thirsty snarl. To the right was Zeveil, an amused grin on his chubby face.

"Well well well", Zeveil mused, "look wha' we 'ave 'ere?".

Tiana was frozen to the spot and her ragged, panicked breathing was loud in the small room.

"Shouldn't 'ave opened 'yer big gob, should 'ya?", Zeveil laughed.

"W-what are you talking about?", Tiana asked. Melody could tell that she was trying to sound brave, but her voice had come out as a whispered stutter anyway.

Macnair laughed and Tiana grimaced and stepped backwards, clearly trying to leave.

"Nuh uh Missy!", Zeveil shouted and Tiana halted, looking utterly terrified.

"Are you Death Eaters?", Tiana whispered.

Macnair laughed again then without warning pointed his wand at Tiana, "crucio!".

Tiana was lifted into the air. Her head went back and her arms wide, she screamed an earsplitting scream, a scream so full of pure pain that something inside Melody felt to be shaking, shaking violently, begging for freedom...

Tiana's scream went on and on, her face contorted from the agony of the torture. Macnair was roaring with so much laughter his eyes were watering. Zeveil stood by, his mouth twisted into a horrid smile.

Melody fell to her knees and scrunched up her face. The shaking feeling inside her was getting stronger and stronger. Bile rose in her throat then quite suddenly, Tiana stopped screaming. In her peripheral vision Melody could see Tiana fall to the floor and lie there, gasping and sobbing.

The shaking feeling in Melody's body subsided greatly and she rose slowly, still feeling strangely uneasy. Macnair and Zeveil were watching her with their eyes narrowed. Zeveil whispered something in Macnair's ear and he nodded grimly.

"Well then Jones", Macnair said sneeringly to Tiana, "guess your little friend can still care".

Tiana looked up at the Death Eaters angrily and gasped, "of course she cares!".

"I wouldn't have been so sure", Macnair said and Zeveil laughed.

"She ain't really 'erself, isn' she?", Zeveil laughed.

"What are you talking about?", Tiana asked and the two Death Eaters laughed even more.

Zeveil opened his mouth to say something again when everyone in the room turned to face the door, where the sound of many running footsteps was approaching.

Macnair and Zeveil rose their wands and glared warily and expectantly at the door. Tiana looked relieved, she clearly believed the approaching people to be rescuers.

BAM! The door slammed open. For a split second the intruders took in the scene. Macnair and Zeveil standing on the other side of the room with their wands raised. Melody standing near the doorway, looking pale as though she had been sick. And Tiana lying on the floor, her face drenched with tears.

The four people observed the intruders in that split second as well. Six Gryffindor students and one Hufflepuff in their pajamas, all with windswept hair and flushed faces, clearly from running. On the right was Akiko Fukui in blue flannelette pajamas and her hair in a messy bun that had bits come loose. To her left was Ginny Weasley in a purple dressing gown with a bright red plait going down her shoulder. To her left was Neville Longbottom in his usual flannelette pajamas. In front of those three were Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. They all had their wands raised.